The Bonfire of the Regulars...

The winners and losers from yesterday's 4th Middlesex special election are a diverse lot.
Burlington representative Charles Murphy made more than a few friends south of his hometown, however his chief henchmen in Arlington, former selectman Charlie Lyons proved incapable of delivering on his alleged promise of a thousand votes. The whole Murphy vesus Marzilli thing pretty much got blown out of the water last night, Murphy lack of a ground game outside Burlington pretty much sealed his fate in a fight between Jim's liberals and Ken's firemen.

Kenneth Donnelly despite his poor debate performance and unpolished style was able to project a great deal of strength at the precinct level in Arlington, normally the preserve of last night's winner, state representative Jim Marzilli. He did this by pitching every off duty police officer & firefighter into the fray and collecting big donations from out of state unions. Notably, Donnelly made it a point to drop by the Arlington Sons of Italy last night and loudly proclaimed his endorsement of Marzilli raising the distinct possibility that the former fire-fighter might get into the state rep's race if Marzilli wins special election in December. This was a serious topic of conversation last night at the Sons of Italy. Another Donnelly candidacy though depends on how much money he has left over from this campaign (a good state rep's challenge in Arlington costs upwards to $55,000 last time I checked)and whether or not his public sector union base has the stomach for an another special election in Arlington.
Donnelly might do better next fall if Marzilli wins next month and Speaker DiMasi then declines to call a special election. That way, Donnelly can rebuild his finances, rest his "volunteers", and concentrate on electing Marzilli thus to prove his bona-fides to the liberal base in Arlington. This might also be the best way for Donnelly's key backers; selectperson Diane Mahon and George Laite to recoup their losses, if they can't retain a state senate seat maybe they can do some business in the general court.
Meanwhile, last time I checked, Woburn rep Pat Natale has not conceded the election to Marzilli...but that was as of 11pm last night, he might have come to his senses since then. Hard to say what benefits Pat derived from this campaign otherwise, he made wild accusations and made a desperate last minute bid for anti-illegal immigrant pop which did him just exactly no good at all. There was talk a month ago that Natale wanted to use this campaign to test the waters for a statewide run, based on what I saw, Pat should rethink this notion in detail.

Overall, Marzilli won because there was a split and a bad one in his local opposition, normally 30 to 40% of the Arlington vote is against him, but with Murphy & Donnelly contending for the same cadres this left Jim free to run his numbers up in the progressive precincts in Lexington and Arlington. The name of the game last night was voter-ID and Marzilli won it.

Anyway congratulations to Jim, he worked hard, he reaped the benefit.
Now on to the general election.

Marzilli uber alles!

With a plurality of 39% of the vote, Arlington representative Jim Marzilli now won the democratic nomination for the 4th Middlesex special election. He carried Arlington with a staggering 62% of the vote and Lexington with a plainlu\y miraculous 72% of the vote.
Clearly, Lexington native Bob Peters' withdrawl from the race may well have delivered the day to Marzilli.
This combined lead overwhelmed state representative Charles Murphy and Ken Donnelly with Woburn rep Pat Natale running a dismal fourth.
Thr real story is the surprising performance of Kenneth Donnelly who made this a real horse race with 25% of the vote running second in all five communities in the district. Clearly the police and the firefighter's unions can still rock the house in a tight race. Moreover this was Donnelly's strategy all along, place a hard second and let the big fish carry their home towns...we it worked he still didn't win!
This is all the more astonishing giving Donnelly's underwhelming pulpit style and poor debate performance.

Nonetheless, tonight is Jim Marzilli's night, finally a man with a good brain and a good heart has risen to the occasion.

Humble Elias couldn't be happier.

Governor Patrick endorses Jim Marzilli in the 4th Middlesex special election:

(Below a cut and paste of the Governor's endorsement)





Dear Friends,

On Tuesday, November 13th, there is an election for State Senate in
your district, the 4th Middlesex, and it's important that you learn
about the candidates and vote.

Change begins at the grassroots level, and your local leaders,
including your State Senator, are the people who will make a direct
impact on so many of the services that you and your family depend
upon.

In this important race, I'm hoping you will join me in supporting Jim
Marzilli, who was an important partner to me in my own campaign and
has helped to guide my decision making as Governor. Jim supports all
four parts of the Municipal Partnership Act. He is a leading advocate
for renewable energy as a way to increase our available clean energy
supply, reduce pollution, curtail our dependence on foreign oil and
spur economic growth.

You can learn more about Jim at his website, or for information about
where you vote, visit the Secretary of State's site here. If you are
interested in supporting his campaign, consider volunteering this
weekend, contributing, or convincing your neighbors to do the same.

As we just learned once again here in Boston, unfortunately, voter
turnout is historically low in many local elections, and our local
leaders are often elected by only a handful of votes.

This makes your participation and your vote even more valuable.
Regardless of who you support, the most important thing is to take the
time to learn about the candidates and cast your vote.

I know just how busy daily life can become, but don't leave politics
solely to politicians. Please take a couple of minutes out of your
busy schedule on Tuesday, November 13th and vote for Jim.

Sincerely,
Deval L. Patrick

When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro...

or so the Late Hunter S. Thompson once opined.
Such might be the case today for Woburn's state rep Pat Natale whose last act of defiance in the 4th Middlesex special election was to release a glossy mailer that features a figure resembling his wife holding her nose and grimacing at thought of dirty politics.
On the other side is a somewhat defensive letter from Joyce Natale extolling Pat's virtues that runs over some half hearted stabs at two of his current rivals for the senate nomination. The big issue that Pat has suddenly glommed onto is his opposition to giving in-state tuition to the offspring of illegal immigrants...must keep Raoul and Lucia out of UMass Boston's night school after all.
Dirty politics indeed....
In all it's a desperate, shrill & gaudy exercise in last ditchery on the part of someone who ought to know better.

In the 4th Middlesex Special Election

for the vacant seat of State Senator Bob Havern, the Chimes at Midnight would like to endorse State Representative James Marzilli .
This is not a slur on the capacities of the current democratic field, Charles Murphy is an able man, Pat Natale is energetic and in the right race Ken Donnelly would be an interesting candidate.
But in Jim Marzilli the man, his issues and the moment have all come together with rare harmony. This election, sound and fury aside is about the advocacy of certain rising issues, the intersection between energy needs and the enviroment, housing costs, tax relief for our senior citizens; all areas that Jim has staked out over the last seventeen years in House of Representatives. Jim Marzilli has done all this and more on behalf of Arlington, he ought to have a chance to do likewise for the whole district.

Note to the Laity...

There will be a Chimes at Midnight endorsement in the 4th Middlesex special state senate election tomorrow.

Meanwhile...the infamous "Bad Poets Society" has once again surfaced, this time in Harvard Square.

A TV Commercial????

Per the Blue Mass Group, state representative Charles Murphy has actually laid down a pile of cash for a television commercial in the 4th Middlesex special state senate election!

Anyone else tried something like this for a state senate election in Massachusetts before?
Seems like a desperate move to me, but I could be wrong.
Moreover the advert itself is a little indistinct, it mentions the state senate once and in passing during the voice over and doesn't not cite the actual district at all.
Therefore a casual or underinformed viewer could easily infer that Murphy is running against John Kerry!

Allegedly, said commercial will start running in Arlington and Lexington this weekend...

Meanwhile, Ken Donnelly's phonebank has called my house twice in the last twenty four hours pestering Elias Nugator Sr. (himself a retired state worker and nominally a union member) about the upcoming primary. None of it has changed his mind, he is for Marzilli.